A Strengthening Bond
by LiliesoftheRain
Summary: The original members of Team Natsu. Natsu, Lucy, and Happy, were walking home from a mission much to Lucy's disdain. When they happen to discover something a little strange on the way, all thanks to Natsu's super hearing. Nalu one-shot. All rights reserved.


I feel like this may be a little rushed, but I really wanted to get this out of my head. Enjoy

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The heat was terrible that day. Lucy Heartfillia was not a happy camper while continuously wiping the buckets of sweat trailing down her forehead. She muttered curses not only at the sweltering sun, but at her partner. A few hours ago she had, begrudgingly of course, accepted the proposal Natsu begged for, walking the three and a half hour walk home versus taking the hour train ride, which was _at least_ 10 times cooler due to the air conditioning. She had most definitely wanted to say no, but his big puppy eyes got the best of her. Now she was stuck dying, not only under the nasty ball of flames, but next to the equally warm dragon slayer.

"Lushiii carry me please, Natsu is too hot." Happy whined as he landed atop the blonde's head. She groaned in response, not wanting his warm body on her head to cause even more discomfort than she was already experiencing. Yet not quite having the energy to even argue, let alone remove him by force.

Natsu chuckled to himself as he walked next to the two grumps. He didn't mind the heat one bit, finding it amusing that it was affecting them so much. He just tried to enjoy the fresh air, and the time they were sharing together. As well as the stillness of the ground, which was way better than moving death trap. Natsu scoffed at the thought of his partners disagreeing, he didn't care if no one else saw the horrors of vehicles. He did, and he just knew they were the _worst_.

The trio still had just about thirty minutes of walking left, and all Lucy could imagine was the sweet iced strawberry lemonade Mira could whip up. Extra ice yes please. Happy was daydreaming of all the cold raw fish he could eat while resting on the cold countertops. Natsu however, was thinking a little differently than the two next to him. He liked Lucy all worked up, trudging along next to him. Her hair was a mess, due to Happy's movements to get comfortable, and he could just picture her screams of embarrassment and irritation if she knew he saw. She was a woman who held a great pride in her looks. He wasn't a fool to notice she was very attractive, no man could be _that_ much of an idiot to overlook someone like her. Natsu smiled, coming out of his thoughts to snicker at the exceed.

"Little buddy, Luce is going to have a cow if she sees the nest you're making in her hair." Huffing in annoyance, Lucy lightly swatted at the feline.

"You damn cat, what are you doing to my hair huh!?" Happy ignored her futile attempts to strike him, and made a mischievous face before replying to Natsu.

"How can Lushii have a cow if she is one? Is she having a baby cow?" Both laughed heartily while Lucy fumed in response. Yanking Happy off of her heard, she pinched the cats cheeks. Red in the face from the sun and from embarrassment. Throwing Happy in the air to fly on his own, she patted her hair down, hoping to tame what she could without looking like a crazy lady.

She was always trying to look her best, but she couldn't help wanting to look just a but better when the dragon slayer was around. Shaking her head comically at the thoughts, she glared back at her partners. Lucy couldn't help but feel her anger melt away when she saw Natsu's large smile.

"Yeah well I don't have a bottomless pit okay, I'm pretty sure I lost a few pounds anyways!"

Natsu only kept laughing, loving the way the red from her cheeks spread to the tips of her ears. He noticed that he had been caring for the blonde a little differently lately. He knew he could be very dense, and be childish, and even have the attention span of a goldfish, but he knew he was developing feelings for Lucy. He loved watching her face scrunch, her voice going higher in octave with her yelling, and even her curves. They were visible in her extraordinarily tight clothes, even more so as the sweat made them stick to her body. All the sweat was also allowing her body to glisten, he watched as a bead fell down her cheek. Plunging itself then down her neck, and towards her lushes breasts. Natsu had to turn his head away to hide his growing blush. He knew it was wrong to stare her down so hard, but he couldn't help himself.

Soon after, all of his attention was torn away from Lucy and towards the outer rim of the woods. While they were practically almost in town, they still had a few minutes of woods left to cover. There was a small cry, and even with his hearing it was still pretty weak. Natsu picked up his pace to a light jog, passing by his partners and ignoring their questions. He kept following the noise, letting it guide him to a clearing, with only a few bushes here and there. He found the one that had caught his curiosity, a small bush with a bunch of deep purple heliotropes scattered around it. There was a tiny basket at the bottom of the bush. A small wicker basket that seemed old and worn, and it held a white blanket inside. Wrapped in the blanket was the cause of the noise, being so close made his ears ring. He removed the blanket slowly, allowing the side to drape outside of the basket and down the sides, before taking a good look at the source.

"A.. A baby!?" Lucy's voice caused him to snap his head back to look straight at her face. While he heard her coming behind him after he jogged off, it was still a bit of surprise she caught up so fast, considering how slow she normally is.

Lucy was frowning, staring straight at the young child laying in the basket. The baby looked dirty, and if the screaming was any indication, she would have to assume hungry, tired, and possible a soiled diaper, since there thankfully was one on the child. She glanced up, meeting Natsu's eyes as they were already trained on her.

"So Luce.. What do we do?" Lucy bit her lip, before glancing down at the infant again.

"We can't just leave the poor thing, they don't even look old enough to walk yet. They'd die out here Natsu."

"I agree but, where can we take him?"

"Him? Natsu you just met the baby you don't know that." He only shrugged in response. Lucy sighed, and went to reach for the child.

"What are you doing?"

"Picking her up obviously."

"Oh her now is it?"

"Can it Natsu or I'll make you carry the baby." That made Natsu gulp in fright. The baby had calmed down a bit once she lifted them, but still was extremely fussy. Although they didn't didn't seem to stink and be in need of a change, which Natsu was grateful for, no doubt Lucy would try to terrorize him with poopy diapers.

"What are you going to do with it?"

"You mean what are _WE _going to do, I'm not doing anything by myself, you're the one who found the poor thing."

"Lucy we can't do anything but give him away." She gave him a downhearted expression.

"But we can't just leave them all alone.. Plus where would they go?" Natsu didn't know. He had to admit, there wasn't anyone they knew of willing to take a child at the moment, especially as one as small as this. He watched as Lucy checked the diaper, since he never told her the child smelled fine, and saw a slight smile graced her lips.

"Well I was right, she's a girl." He hummed in response, not really caring either way. More focused on what the hell they were going to do. They could just care for it till the find someone, but he wasn't ready for any of that. He knew Lucy wouldn't let him leave her alone with the girl, and he knew he couldn't do it to her anyways.

Happy hovered above Lucy, watching the baby girls cheeks reden with all of her crying. He cooed at the little girl, and noticed something which made him snicker in his little paws.

"Natsu, she has pink hair just like you!" Both adults looked at her head, to see that Happy was telling the truth. She did in fact have bright pink hair, almost identical in color to Natsu's own salmon locks, as he'd argue.

"Salmon Happy, it's not pink. You know this." Lucy giggled at his huffing before standing up. Natsu gave her a confused until she spoke up.

"We can't leave her here, no matter what happens. Plus, it would be the best thing possible to get her out of the heat. There were only a few things keeping her in the shade, I'm surprised she's still okay after having that sheet over her head."

"I suppose you're right, c'mon then, let's hurry to the guild. " They all began their trek back home. Lucy holding the child, Natsu the basket, because she had just insisted to take it, and Happy holding himself in the air. He made sure to hover by Lucy, absolutely fascinated with the child who was now rid of the tears in her eyes, and making small hiccuping noises instead.

"Are we sure the guild is the best place to take her?" Natsu looked at the celestial mage from the corners of his eyes before raising a brow.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Lucy could only shrug before letting her brown eyes meet his own green ones.

"I don't know, sometimes the guild can be a bit, uh well, rowdy. She is still pretty young by the looks of it."

"Why don't we take her back to your place Lushii, that way she won't get caught up with Natsu's temper when he causes a scene." Lucy laughed along with Happy at Natus's furious words that followed.

"Oi! I do not have a temper, and I don't make any scene that isn't deserved."

"Shush it, no taking her guildhall till further notice. We'll go to my place first, and figure out a game plan from there. My place is closer anyways, and I wanna get out of this heat!" Speed walking away, Lucy and Happy left Natsu to watch their backs the further they got. He caught the sight of both of them making cooing noises at the child. He couldn't help but stare at Lucy and how cute she looked while holding the young girl to her chest. The smile that was making her amber eyes shine. He gulped, one thought passing through his mind.

_"Beautiful."_


End file.
